GOVERNMENT claims in Parliament that there are no plans to close Malton Hospital have been greeted with scepticism in Ryedale.

Health Minister Anne Milton also claimed health care at home was better than hospital care in a Commons debate on the unexpected closure of Ryedale Ward at the hospital in October.

Thirsk and Malton MP Anne McIntosh arranged the debate following widespread protests in the district about the loss of half the hospital’s beds.

The Minister said: “The PCT has made it clear that it sees the hospital as an integral part of local health services and that it has no intention of not having a community hospital in Malton.”

She also said: “North Yorkshire and York PCT is currently piloting a scheme of enhanced community service in the Malton and Whitby area. The PCT believes that treating patients closer to home will provide better outcomes and encourage patients to retain their independence. I gather that that pronouncement has been greeted with the same cynicism with which it is greeted in many areas around the country.”

In her speech, Miss McIntosh said: “The scheme may lead to patients being admitted as an emergency to an acute ward, which is distressing and more costly than care on a community ward and deeply worrying to patients and their loved ones.” She called for full consultation over the pilot scheme and any future changes to the health system in Ryedale before they take effect.

Malton GP Dr Michael Lynch, who is heading the campaign to reopen the closed ward, said he believed the future of Malton Hospital was still in doubt. “If you close half the wards at a hospital, it is bound to have an effect,” he said.

He thought the savings generated by the closure of Ryedale Ward would not be as much as health managers hoped for. He rejected the minister’s claims that providing people with medical care in their own homes was better.